- Rescues 113 Kidnap Victims Unhurt
- Suspect Of Attack On Apostle Johnson Suleiman Nabbed
Ayuba Sanusi
THE Nigeria Police Force has said that its ongoing efforts to combat crime and criminality and curb the proliferation of illegal weapons in the country have resulted in landmark breakthroughs, with the arrest of 1,412 suspects for various violent crimes within two months.
The record of achievements within the period under review indicates that 548 of the suspects were arrested for armed robbery, 242 for kidnapping, 365 for murder/homicide and 237 for rape/defilement.
A total of 350 firearms, illegally acquired, and 4,055 ammunition of various calibres were said to have been recovered from across the country within the period, even as 113 kidnap victims were rescued unhurt and reunited with their families.
The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in a statement on the development, noted that the most prominent of the breakthroughs was the arrest of a 32-year-old plumber, Ismael Isah, from Okene in Kogi State, by gallant operatives of the Force.
Ismael, the statement revealed, was part of the 7-man gang that launched a fatal attack on the convoy of Apostle Johnson Suleiman, Founder of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide, Auchi, on 21st October 2022, on the Benin/ Auchi Road, killing six persons, including three police officers.
According to Adejobi, intelligence revealed that the 7-man syndicate had been actively involved in kidnapping operations within Edo State and its environs, and carried out about four kidnapping operations between 2021 and 2023, before the gang was eventually busted by the Police.
Ismael’s arrest in Ondo State led to the recovery of five AK-47 rifles, two K2 assault rifles, 180 rounds of live ammunition, four suspected locally made IEDs, one pistol, and four rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Another set of five suspects, whose crime bordered on conspiracy and kidnapping, was arrested in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The suspects, comprising four males and a female, 34-year-old Emu Larry Chidiebere (m); Samuel Balogun, 22 (m); Williams Banjo, 28 (m); Babatunde Femi, 30 (m) and Nneka Opara, 33 (f), were arrested for kidnapping a foreign national and obtained a ransom of 2,000 Dollars from his relatives.
They were said to have held the victim hostage in an apartment from 3rd May to 2nd June 2023, took pictures of the victim and forwarded the same to his girlfriend in Zurich with threatening messages.
The said girlfriend eventually transferred the sum of 2,000 Dollars via Western Union on 1st June 2023 to the kidnappers.
According to the statement, the sustenance of continuous assault on the camps of some non-state actors in the South-East for enforcing an illegal sit-at-home order, particularly in Enugu, Imo, and Ebonyi states by the police, resulted in the killing of four suspects in Enugu on Friday, 7th July in a gun duel.
One AK-47 rifle with 19 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition and 2 Molotov cocktails were recovered in that encounter.
In Ebonyi, the statement disclosed that 17 suspects were arrested following a raid on the hideout of secessionist agitators on 5th and 6th July during which a locally made revolver, two vehicle number plates and three live ammunition were recovered.
“Similarly, in Imo, police operatives arrested 26 hoodlums following the murder of a young man in their rampage, and successfully recovered five firearms, 66 live ammunition and several other exhibits”, Adejobi revealed.
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, has reiterated the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force to continually ensure the safety and security of all and sundry, even as he emphasized that his administration would leave no stone unturned in the effort to suppress and decimate criminality and the heinous activities of non-state actors who cause pain, hardship, and sorrows on innocent law-abiding members of the Nigerian society.
Eighteen-Eleven Media